This invention relates to devices for assisting in mounting and dismounting from a motor vehicle and, more particularly, to a pull out step to provide access to the tailgate of a truck.
Pull out steps which provide access to the side of a truck have been used in the past. Such steps are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,108,458 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,064. Such steps do not provide access to a truck's tailgate. The device described is U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,064 is intended to give a user the ability to enter the bed of a pickup truck by means of a pull out step mounted on the front spring hanger of the truck's rear axle and thus located near the front of the pickup truck bed. Such a device has the disadvantage of requiring the user, while standing on the pull out step with one foot, to lift his other foot over the side of the pickup truck bed. Such a maneuver is awkward and may be dangerous, particularly if the user is carrying an object in his hands.